To the King's most Excellent Majesty in Council,
The humble Petition of some of your Majesty's dutiful and loyal subjects, being Freeholders of Lands by virtue of your Majesty's Letters Patent, under the Great Seal of the Province of North Carolina, which Lands by the extending and establishing the late Boundary Line between the Provinces of North and South Carolina, in pursuance of your Majesty's Orders in Council, have fallen within the limits of the said Province of South Carolina,
Sheweth,
That until the extending and establishing the said Boundary Line to the Westward, as far as the above said Lands the same Lands were generally deemed and taken by the Inhabitants of both the said Provinces, to be within the limits of the said Province of North Carolina.
That prior to any extension of the said Boundary Line, as far westward as the said Lands, your Petitioners in order to settle and subsist themselves and their families applied for and obtained Grants of the same Lands by your Majesty's Letters Patent, under the Great Seal of the said Province of North Carolina, and in consequence thereof, did settle, cultivate and improve the same.
That by the late Establishment of the said Boundary Line, the same Lands thus granted by your Majesty to your Petitioners, have fallen within the limits of the said Province of South Carolina.
That your Petitioners thereupon most humbly conceived, that no further Authentication of your Majesty's said Grants were necessary, for the quieting them in the peaceable enjoyment of their said Lands, than the entering a Memorial thereof, and of the mesne Conveyances thereupon, in the Office of your Majesty's Auditor General of the said Province of South Carolina, as this measure must effectually ascertain
where, and by what Authority, your Majesty's Quit Rents, and the Arrearages thereof, due for & accruing on the same Lands, are to be collected and received.That your Petitioners have in consequence thereof procured memorials of the said Grants and of the mesne Conveyances thereupon, to be entered, or have tendered the same to be entered, in the said Office of your Majesty's Auditor General of the said Province of South Carolina: But
That your Petitioners to their great concern are notified by Proclamation, and Instructions from your Governor of South Carolina, that the Officers employed in your Majesty's Land Office in that Province, do require that your Petitioners should be at the further trouble and expense of surrendering your Majesty's said Letters Patent for granting the said Lands, under the Great Seal of the said Province of North Carolina and of procuring thereupon new Grants of the same Lands from your Majesty under the Great Seal of the said Province of South Carolina or otherwise, that the said Lands shall be deemed vacant, and liable to be granted to any other Persons applying for the same.
That your Petitioners are apprehensive that such surrender of your Majesty's said old Grants, and procuring of such new Grants, will not only be attended with great trouble and expense, but with manifest injustice and oppression to your Petitioners, as such a measure will probably open a door to great litigation, suits and controversies relative to the title of the said Lands, by reason that Grants thereof may have been obtained by other Persons, under the Great Seal of the Province of South Carolina, subsequent to your said Majesty's old Grants, but prior to such new Grants.
That your Petitioners conceive that in consequence of such new Grants, the Revenue arising to your Majesty from the Quit rents due and accruing on the said Lands, may suffer considerable diminution, as many years quit rents on some of the said old Grants are now in arrear; and therefore that the aforesaid Officers employed in your Majesty's said Land office in South Carolina will be the only Persons benefitted thereby.
Your Petitioners therefore most humbly pray, that in consideration of the Premises, your Majesty will be graciously pleased to make such an order in Council for the relief of your Petitioners as may effectually tend to quiet and establish them in the peaceable
possession and enjoyment of their said Lands and their Habitations and improvements thereon.And your petitioners as in Duty bound shall ever pray &c,